MFA Never 2020

MFA

NEVER 2020 ARCHIVE PROJECT / JURIED EXHIBITION 1

2

3

4

20 20 20 20

MFA

NEVER creates visibility for artists who have found a life and practice in the visual arts outside of advanced academic degree programs

5

MFA NEVER

The MFA Never 2020 Juried Exhibition was presented at Root Division in March 2020 as part of the 2nd Saturday Exhibition Series.

Selected from over 120 submissions, the 21 artists chosen for this exhibition present a diversity of mediums, backgrounds, age, identity, and reasons for not pursuing advanced degrees in art.

EXHIBITION DATES 2ND SATURDAY

6

February 20 – March 21, 2020

Saturday, March 14, 2020

JURORS

Kevin B. Chen Artist; Educator; Independent Curator Eleanor Harwood Director, Eleanor Harwood Gallery Marie Martraire Director, KADIST San Francisco

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Peter Adamyan Stephanie Aderholt Jayasri Alhamdaputri Nicole Irene Anderson Marie Bergstedt Melissa Bolger Sarah Borruso Cameron Clack Spencer Davie Richard Dweck Hunter Franks

Stanley Goldstein Sarah HaBa Clint Imboden Pablo Manga Lena Martinez-Miller Christine Meuris Anastasia Schipani Afatasi The Artist Margaret Timbrell Bret Woodard

7

8

RENÉE RHODES Art Programs Manager, Root Division

MFA programs can be such idealistic spaces - spaces devoted to causes and ways of seeing that are often undervalued by the mainstream culture around us. I love that you can go to a room full of other people to practice telling and caring for each other’s stories.

A look around tells us there’s some trouble in the tower though. In 2015, the entire first year visual arts MFA cohort at USC dropped out together, citing raised tuition and loss of key faculty members as some of the reasons why. In 2020, graduate students at UC Santa Cruz are protesting for teaching wages in line with the rising cost of living. The trends of underpaid adjunct faculty, rising tuition, and lifelong student loan debt, has put a bit of a damper on educational optimism.

As someone who worked backstage in academia for over 10 years, I wonder how we got here anyhow. The pursuit of higher education wasn’t always the norm. In the 1960’s higher education went on a linear growth track that was quite possibly never built to sustain itself: enrollments doubled, more professors were hired than at any other point in US history combined, on average, a new community college opened every week, and masters and PHD programs proliferated to boost the status of the colleges that held them.

Sixty years later, the bubble is shapeshifting and maybe that opens up some exciting possibilities for the state of learning, storytelling and the creation of curiosity-driven culture.

At Root Division, we’re reflecting on these perspective shifts too and celebrating emergent possibilities through exhibition and catalog projects like MFA Never. This biennial exhibition features a diverse grouping of artists who have cut their own paths without pursuing the traditional MFA route. I think you’ll see as you read through these pages that the artists of MFA Never show us myriad paths that can lead to life as an artist.

This year’s exhibition, juried by Kevin B. Chen, Eleanor Harwood, and Marie Martraire features a thoughtful range of works exploring stories of immigration, familial memory, inner states, expressions of gender identity, speculative futures for diasporic communities, and many reflections on growing environmental concerns.

Artists are citizens who share their curiosities and engagement in visual ways. No permission or degree is really needed to move through the world in that way. Outside of MFA programs, a plentiful and productive optimism flourishes. I can’t wait to share that optimism with you through this collection of new work. See you in the gallery!

9

KEVIN B. CHEN Artist; Educator; Independent Curator

Perhaps the title of this archive publication provides a hint at the common thread linking the wide range of work contained herein.

Perhaps some work resonates deeply with you on an immediate and intimate level. Perhaps other work not so much. Perhaps some work conveys a singularity of vision in concept and material execution that is on par or even superior to work that you have seen over the years in numerous MFA exhibitions. Perhaps you don’t pay attention at all to an artist’s educational background. Perhaps you do.

For close to two decades, Root Division has been championing artists at every stage of their development and career. And thanks to an idea brought forth by Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen several years ago, this second iteration of MFA Never again champions artists whose practice has existed and thrived outside of an advanced academic context.

Regardless of what perspective you bring to this publication and exhibition of the same name, we hope you fundamentally experience the work on its own terms. Ask the same questions you typically would ask of any work, and perhaps you might find yourself standing in front of the same window of expansion and transformation that the best art can bring us to.

ELEANOR HARWOOD Director, Eleanor Harwood Gallery

10

It’s been a pleasure to review the work submitted to the MFA Never exhibit. The premise that all of the artists do not have an MFA may seem unimportant or even arbitrary. However, I think it’s really critical to step outside what can be a self-generating art world and keep our eyes open to new work. As gallerists and curators, often what we see, when we see new work, comes to us via award shows, fellowship residencies, MFA shows, and other exhibitions often culled from a fairly insular art world. While this is to be expected, it can also be problematic. The discourse and fashion of any given time easily transmits to students and is incorporated into their work over the course of an MFA program. This can have a homogenizing effect, often one that brings a few students to the top and leaves the others making iterative works, pondering the same in-vogue concepts and methods, but not as well.

Not going through an MFA program has many upsides and downsides, the most obvious upside has to do with not leaving school with an enormous amount of debt and with the dubious honor of having a terminal degree that very few students will get to use. According to various reports only about 10% of graduates in the arts will be working artists a few years after school. Another less obvious upside is that the normalizing and narrowing effect of being in an environment that professionalizes art can be detrimental to creativity. As artists enter into language that becomes more conceptual and “rigorous,” there is a tendency to become less immediately responsive to the world around us.

The works submitted to MFA Never had a collective urgency, and a theme amongst the works submitted emerged easily enough. The overwhelmingly dire environmental situation we currently face came up time and time again in various ways. I think because the group samples more broadly from the public, we see our general anxieties reflected back at us more clearly. We see less of the “art world” and more of “our world.” We are all terrified (or should be) about climate change and our global future and this distress was evident throughout much of the work submitted for MFA Never.

MARIE MARTRAIRE Director, KADIST San Francisco

Pursuant to its long-term dedication to connecting creativity and community, Root Division continues to foster the visibility of contemporary artists, and consolidate their relationships with colleagues and audiences alike through this second edition of MFA Never. A glimpse into the contemporary art scenes, this archive highlights a diverse and engaged group of artists working and living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020. These pages spotlight the dynamism of the visual art context in which we currently live—a refreshing alternative to the dominating accounts on artists leaving the region due to rising living costs.

11

Ticket Taker at the Gateway of Earthly Delights, 2018, Oil paint, wood, and credit cards, 12 x 12 x 2 in.

A

PETER ADAMYAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Art Handler EDUCATION High School Diploma PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Sculpture, Woodworking

12

My work explores how brand identity has replaced cultural identity and what has changed and remained the same between contemporary society and early human civilizations.

These paintings incorporate found wood and materials like VHS and cassette tapes, spray cans, water bottles and even the soles of shoes. The raw materials in these works are transformed from the waste of a throw away society, creating decorative motifs intended to elevate them from their former lives as garbage into an object of beauty. They beg questions of the viewer. What does it mean to be human? To be civilized? What is it that we truly hold sacred, and why?

Death is all I think about., 2016, Archival digital print, 14 x 11 x 0.5 in.

STEPHANIE ADERHOLT CURRENT OCCUPATION Sculpture Lab Technician EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

Grief will always be a theme in my work and can be seen throughout my practice. When faced with the death of my parents and a grandparent, I turned to art as a way to channel my grief. This photo is a portrait of my best friend just after her boyfriend had passed away. Grief is something that I felt like I knew well but couldn't really explain with words. Art has allowed me to share mine and other's grief in a way that allows the viewers to experience the emotions but remain detached from them.

A

13

Womxn - Mandi Kembang, 2018, Digital print, 12 x 36 in.

A

JAYASRI ALHAMDAPUTRI CURRENT OCCUPATION Event Specialist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Film / Video, Photography, Performance

14

Mandi Kembang aims to explore boundaries of our social context. Living at the intersection of multiple identities as a queer trans muslim of color, through this work, I question the imposed norms and myths of our cultural and sociopolitical environment. Through an exploration of the muslim attire, I utilize the method of concealment as a means of liberation. The obscure bodies hidden under niqabs and hijabs, are investigated through a series of performative actions. What comes of these performances is a blurred sense of what’s considered acceptable, creating more accepting attitudes towards queer and/or trans people.

Target Practice, 2019, Oil and graphite on paper, 34 x 42 in.

NICOLE IRENE ANDERSON CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing, Painting

Painting in a narrative style, I work from a socialenvironmental-psychological perspective – creating multiple layers both in content and in technique. I combine painting and drawing media to create intricate, painterly surfaces where thick paint, textured glazes, and delicate graphite drawing co-exist. I travel to sketch and take photographs of architectural forms and landscapes that are highly altered by human intervention. These places serve as an emotional and nervous starting point.

A

15

What the Camera Sees, 2019, Interactive installation, Dimensions variable

A

STEPHANIE ANDREWS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, New Genres

16

What the Camera Sees is a playfully creepy experience that imagines a not-too-distant future where your expected value and risk to society are calculated by systems that are impossible to question or correct. Step into the camera’s view and see the tale it spins about you.

Built solely with accessible and open-source tools, this work is a rumination of surveillance created by the Gel Pen Collective, running live and close-up here: https:// gitsteph.github.io/list/wtcs/public/

Isochronal III, 2019, Found wire, concrete, cloth, and milkpaint, 19 x 6 x 13 in.

PENELOPE ANSTRUTHER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Waitress EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, Printmaking, Sculpture

I work intuitively and generatively with a cross-disciplinary approach that’s often site-specific. I let the materials I’m working with inform the process and always try to play and push in new directions. Recently, I’ve been limiting myself to using only the materials I’ve already accumulated in my studio. This forces me to look with new eyes at the objects directly in front of me. The Isochronal series is a result of this practice.

A

17

Transformation, 2019, Watercolor on paper, 36 x 28 in.

A

JANIS ANTON CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

18

Last year, 30,000 backyard mostly songbirds died. The survivors have adapted to climate change with decreased body size and increased wing span measurable in a single year. Other adaptions are change in migration patterns, and behavioral change such as singing to their eggs just before hatching. The question of adaption and extinction is here right now. The image addresses transformation but without a clear sense of who is changing into who. The questions of extinction and change mark our era.

Tar and Twine Skull Print, Malt., 2018, Monotype tar paper print, 39 x 25 x 1 in.

TIMOTHY ARMSTRONG CURRENT OCCUPATION Hotel Handyman EDUCATION Some College PRIMARY MEDIA Printmaking

Of artistic and economic necessity, I have discovered a method of printmaking using only camping fuel, tar paper scraps and mop head yarn salvaged from dumpsters near homeless encampments in San Francisco. A material experiment at first born of my own economic place, these skulls are meant to echo those lives, if less urgently my own. Mounted on the back of this monotype is its original tar paper and mop head yarn collage.

A

19

Complement, 2018, Produce stickers collage, 48 x 48 x 1.5 in.

A

EFREN AVE CURRENT OCCUPATION Barn Manager EDUCATION AA PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Collage

20

While working with fruit stickers I noticed that each of them had a story to tell. A produce sticker can tell a story of big corporations, successful business people, proud farmers, and happy customers. They can also tell the story of good smells, delicious flavors, bright colors, and creative artists.

I also realized that the same produce stickers tell stories of contamination, deforestation, displacement, and poverty.

A tiny produce sticker really holds many stories.

a tolerable balance of intolerable things, 2019, Watercolor, gum bichromate, and Soluvar on traditional ground on panel, 40 x 29 in.

FRANCIS BAKER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

The project began with the questioning of my own values while living alongside the increasing homeless crisis. I could not reconcile how to pursue my life, as well as, teach my child integrity and morality, while homeless encampments, pan handling, and extreme poverty are at my doorstep. Through this project, I am exploring social injustice and inequity, wealth and poverty disparity, and themes of mental health and the human spirit.

B

21

Breathe, 2016, Crochet, embroidery, smocking, quilting, and appliquĂŠ, 61 x 63 x 4 in.

B

MARIE BERGSTEDT CURRENT OCCUPATION Full-Time Artist EDUCATION BA, Education PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

22

I tell stories, often sparked by current events. Inspired by my personal experience, I draw upon one of my mixed-up family of bloodlines or close friends to explore the contradictions, tragedies, challenges, and sometimes bliss of the tale. I unbutton stories, mend tears, unveil, and discover as I stitch together the narrative, working through issues in a way that configures into a more-positive visual.

There is room for humor and celebration at the end.

Lace Nine: Sea Currents, 2018, Phosphor bronze, 15 x 24 x 18 in.

BARBARA M. BERK CURRENT OCCUPATION Sculptor EDUCATION BA, History; MA, Russian History PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

I explore strength and beauty, transparency and movement through the interplay of metals with traditional fiber techniques. Using Renaissance lace stitches, I play with line, plane and pattern. Using industrial wire, I play with texture, volume and scale.

B

Process/Material. Solids/Voids. Reflections/Shadows.

Domestic/Industrial. Soft/Hard. Looking At/Looking Through. Animated by these dualities and seeming contradictions, my handmade lace becomes sculpture intriguing and mesmerizing.

23

Naming It is Powerful, 2018, Acrylic, crowd-sourced mixed media, lighting gels on canvas, 24 x 30 x 1.5 in.

B

TODD BERMAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Educator; Non-profit Administrator EDUCATION BA, Public Policy PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

24

At the June 2018 Emerging Arts Professionals conference at Root Division, I took copious sketchnotes in real time to capture the ideas being presented and something about the energy in the room. I copied and collaged my notes onto canvas, incorporating written comments from fellow participants, to create this painting about the event. This piece is part of my argument that our education system can be reformulated around a foundation of community and creativity.

Mom's Afghan, A Piece of Her, 2019, Colored pencil on paper, 22 x 30 in.

MELISSA BOLGER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist Assistant EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing

In my current work, I am drawing a realistic representation of an Afghan blanket, crocheted by my late mother, who was murdered by her ex-lover, when I was a young adult.

My drawing of the blanket is a portrait of my mother, of the knots she crocheted, an act of remembrance, memories revived, knot by knot, as well as an act that celebrates what has been a traditionally female craft.

B

25

A Day in The Life of a Contractor, 2017, Watercolor and ink on paper, 60 x 44 in.

B

MICHELLE BOND CURRENT OCCUPATION Landscape Contractor; Designer EDUCATION BFA, Art; MFA, Landscape Architecture PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

26

I did not pursue an MFA because the call of building my Landscape business was more important to support living in San Francisco. I went back to school to study Landscape Architecture. For the last 5 years, I have been painting stories of my life as a contractor and a business woman. For years, I felt soulless, like a machine, grinding away to better the Business. Today, I find time to paint every week and discover that I do have a soul, a voice, a meaning.

Home Machines (#1, #2, #8), 2019, Glazed ceramic and end tables, 30.5 x 43.5 x 27 in.

SARAH BORRUSO CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION AAS, Fashion Design; BA, English PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, Sculpture, Ceramics

A love and hate relationship with domesticity. The mocking nature of home appliances, with their promise of ease, function, utility, grace. The long, long days — captive, indoors — raising an infant. A blurring of identity — half child, half adult, and the confused perception of machines, objects, furniture, toys, food, that surrounds us.

A curious child-height world emerges full of nonsensical glossy buttons, shiny knobs, and the all-important red, “off” button, when it’s time to stop.

B

27

Up In My Dress, 2017, Intaglio solarplate etching on Rives BFK, 16 x 12 x 1 in.

B

SUE BRADFORD CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Mother; Manager EDUCATION BA, Architecture PRIMARY MEDIA Printmaking

28

A girl child’s dress is adorned with the decoration of men signing away women’s access to reproductive healthcare.

The Dress Series works to illuminate and visually express disparity and inequality based on gender and arcane social norms in our male-based center of power.

PLEASE TOUCH 3, 2019, Wool and silk, 12 x 12 x 0.3 in.

MARY BURGER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Writer EDUCATION BA, Creative Writing and Poetics PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

Felting brings the primal and tactile immediacy of handling loose fiber until it coalesces into a sturdy textile. Entangled and pliant, felt is a mesh of strength. I feel compelled to make these works, like a nurturant ritual. To make a gesture of providing comfort and care. Amidst the cacophony of our political crises, the tides of violence, exploitation, and extermination, I want to change the terms. I want to create a space free of fear.

B

29

Colony Redux, 2019, Mixed media, 60 x 60 x 5 in.

C

JESSICA CADKIN CURRENT OCCUPATION Marketing Professional; Artist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

30

I am deeply influenced by the natural world: the borderline where land and water meet, the undulating and synchronized movements of a flock of birds in flight. I abstract these already abstracted forms to create pieces freed from their geographical, biological, and botanical reference. My work involves multiple parts: pieces that are separate yet work together to create a united whole.

Individual parts function on their own, but together they create a larger, complete image.

Apology, 2019, Pencil and colored pencil on paper, 17 x 14 in.

JOHN CASEY CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Visitor Experience, SFMOMA EDUCATION BFA, Painting PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing

I explore open-ended narratives through portraiture. I tap into my subconscious to conjure loose metaphors and symbols, and weave them into characters. Some of these beings represent a psychological self-portrait while others are impressions of various other people. The character’s life-story is left open to interpretation and the results are what appear to be damaged or vulnerable beings, but a second look reveals complex, enthusiastic and sensitive spirits.

C

31

Bodies of Water, 2019, Cyanotype and seawater on bristol , 9 x 12 in. each

C

KRISTIANA CHAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Art Educator; Curator EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

32

Exploring water as an ancient medium of memory, I attempt to capture traces of the lives previously lived in and around specific bodies of water. I repeatedly visit shoreline sites around the Bay Area where Chinese fishermen once lived and worked. Bodies of Water addresses the sea as a maternal entity, offering the viewer passage into the aquatic unconscious, transporting us to the past, present, and unseen worlds that lie below the surface of the psyche.

Coffee Man: The Final Adventure, 2019, Digital illustration print, Dimensions variable

CAMERON CLACK CURRENT OCCUPATION Marketing Associate; Tattoo Apprentice EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing

Coffee Man was a superhero I created in my childhood to cope with powerlessness and danger. As I’ve grown, he has followed me into adulthood. Coffee Man is a means of accessing subconscious insights and organizing experiences. Coffee Man mobilizes a comical aesthetic and absurd narrative as a means of baiting an audience to consider how they may relate to him. In this series, Coffee Man explores suicide, anhedonia, paternal wounds, and loneliness.

C

33

Untitled, 2018, Paper, ink, acrylic , 35 x 35 x 2 in.

C

ALAN CLARK CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION Some College PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing, Painting

34

My art explore the universe in a post-humanist way thinking of our culture 1000 years from tomorrow. My work explores how humanity free from form explores the formless. Space and all its wonder. The cosmos from an explorer, fueled by the artistic strokes of the cosmos.

Glass Ceiling, 2018, Plexiglas, metal, 18 x 36 x 28 in.

SELBY COLE CURRENT OCCUPATION Honey EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA New Genres, Photography, Sculpture

I create objects and actions on the brink of utility. I make things that are not made otherwise, because they are not useful enough, or are bad ideas—but in their wily ways, I find them compelling. How is our perception articulated?

I want it to waver and reconfigure. By making a glass ceiling real, does it change the one in my mind? I hope, by performing reality, we could unhinge our subjectivity.

C

35

Katya, 2019, Oil on panel, 48 x 36 x 2 in.

C

THERESA CURRIE CURRENT OCCUPATION Culture Worker EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

36

I am a painter and sound artist. I earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Today I reside in San Francisco's Lower Haight. I am fascinated by traditional painting materials and techniques. My subjects are performance artists, costumed noise musicians, dancers, and intimates. I produce the zine ALLLIES, for which I organize improvisational drawing groups. I am a member of noise trio FOOT SOS.

True Religion, 2020, Photo-collage on paper, 12 x 26 x 2 in.

ROHAN DACOSTA CURRENT OCCUPATION Freelance Photographer; Caterer EDUCATION BA

A lone figure strikes a daring pose in a field amongst grazing livestock, the Baroque golden frame representing the spectre of abundance - thoughts on sacrifice as it pertains to wealth, culture, fashion, individualism, resources, and identity.

D

PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

37

Body, 2019, Oil on canvas, 14 x 19 in.

D

SPENCER DAVIE CURRENT OCCUPATION Tattoo Studio Manager EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

38

The ascendance of our species has been violent and inexorable, and for millennia we have anticipated our extinction as the inevitable outcome of our continued dominance of Earth. This Apocalypse Narrative is the collection of human knowledge and culture concerned with an end of the world. My work operates as a simulation of this Narrative, describing its features not as chronology but as a silhouette of this event/object we call Apocalypse.

Blue Coral, 2019, Ceramic , 8 x 17 x 15 in.

PHOEBE DEUTSCH CURRENT OCCUPATION Ceramic Sculpture Art Teacher EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Ceramics

I am a sculptor working primarily in clay. Reflecting a vision of what I call "alluring speculation," my artwork explores life in its transitional and metamorphic states. Blue Coral is a part of a larger environmental project, creating lifelike creatures that people can own and admire without removing specimens from their natural habitats.

D

39

Coast, 2019, Spray paint and acrylic paint on panel, 12 x 16 x 2 in.

D

CARISSA DIAZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Installations & Site Manager EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

40

I have a language made of color and shape. My affinity for color is the thread that ties my creations together.

My painting process is a never ending loop of spraying shapes that overlap to reveal bits of information about each planar landscape. My color inspiration comes from neon signs, the way a belly laugh feels, paying attention to light - windows glowing orange at dusk, and the softness and vibrancy of the California landscape.

Ritual, 2015, Acrylic, makeup pigment, and toilet paper on canvas, 48 x 36 x 1.5 in.

DYANNA DIMICK CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

This piece, Ritual, displays squares of toilet paper with makeup pigment from my fingers - each from my morning routine. I see it as a study of vanity and human behavior. The viewer gets a peek into my daily ritual.

Our obsessions and habits intrigue me. I use everyday materials to explore the human relationship with the natural world.

D

41

You Belong Here, 2019, Paper sculpture, 41 x 20 x 2 in.

D

ZAI DIVECHA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION Masters, Public Health PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

42

You Belong Here was the 2012 slogan for AIDS/ LifeCycle, an annual 545-mile bike ride that raises money for California HIV/AIDS organizations. The AIDS/ LifeCycle community is tight-knit, joyful, and diverse. I've done the ride seven times, and have raised over $40,000 for the cause. This message is a reminder that there are many ways to work toward health justice -- honoring a loved one, raising or giving money, or educating others.

We're all in this together.

Miami Dominoes, 2019, Photo, 40 x 60 in.

BO DROGA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, Sculpture

Miami Dominoes is a site specific installation that enhances the concrete infrastructure of the overground metro rail in Miami. By transforming the concrete pylons into a set of Dominos game pieces, Miami Dominos transcends all ages, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. This award winning public artwork has won the heart and soul of the Miami community.

D

My artistic career spans over two decades and three continents. I have lived, worked and exhibited in London, Paris , New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Fiji, Miami and I am now based in Oakland, CA. 43

Gutter Beauty, 2017, Archival pigment print on metallic photo paper, 42 x 63 x 1 in.

D

RICHARD DWECK CURRENT OCCUPATION Photographer EDUCATION BS, Architecture PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

44

By their nature, cities are dense environments. Sometimes, it’s not easy to get a perspective on them. In my work, I find that reflections often reveal perspectives and forms that would otherwise go unnoticed. To that end, I love sharing my work and my social values with larger and larger audiences. I have found the perfect way to express who I am- aesthetically and spiritually.

Untitled Self Portrait in wax , 2020, Wax, paper, powdered pigment on canvas, 26 x 26 x 1 in.

SALOME EL CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Customer Service EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

For the past year, my practice has heavily involved wax and self portraiture on panel. With this new work, I wanted to break away from a more refined look and went a bit more experimental in order to see what kind of textures I could make, and to see how canvas on its own would take the wax. This piece is the final piece in a small collection of work I've completed in a similar style.

E

45

Tender N-redos, 2019, Plastic bags and thread, 60 x 48 in.

E

EVA ENRIQUEZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Teaching Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Textiles

46

My artwork is embedded in the context of growing up in Spain, and specifically learning from my resourceful grandmother. The shortage of basic materials to survive after the war, made her hyper-conscious of reusing and repurposing everything. Together, we would gather materials to create new garments or fix household items.

As both, an extension and parallel of my grandmother’s method of continual re-use, my practice critiques our current consumer culture of waste and excess.

Animatronic Butterfly, 2019, Paper, metal, plastic, and electronic components, 21 x 20 x 20 in.

JOHN ESPEY CURRENT OCCUPATION Technical Director; Project Manager EDUCATION BS, Biology PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

We can look into nature for inspiration and mimic her forms. Insects live their brief lives adapting and being flexible to the natural forces. The form of their bodies harnesses unstable conditions. Conversely, humans build robots to be rigid, predictable, and long lasting. I hope to capture the flexible and fragile quality of insects in biomimetic robotic sculptures.

E

47

Untitled, 2019, Oil on canvas on panel, 13.25 x 15.25 x 0.5 in.

F

MICHAEL FAIRCHILD CURRENT OCCUPATION Museum Program Manager EDUCATION BA, Art; Graduate Fellow, Architecture PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

48

I make small abstract paintings. I work slowly with a lot of trial-and-error, building up and scraping down.

Most paintings go through long cycles of dormancy and change -- sometimes in patchwork fashion, other times as complete overhauls. A finished painting may not show its history, but an important part of my practice involves layering source material over time and finding new ways to re-enter an old surface. I think these are approaches that extend beyond painting.

Sending to the Land, 2020, Black and white 16mm film to digital, Dimensions variable

SOPHIA FEUER CURRENT OCCUPATION Freelance Filmmaker; Youth Media Instructor EDUCATION BS, Cinema and Photography PRIMARY MEDIA Film, Video

Sending to the Land is a film resembling a collage of moments, acting as a window into the life of an elderly woman living in Northern Germany. She reflects on her childhood with an eeriness, as if she is speaking about someone else. Through the intimacy of the individual experience, shrouded in unspoken trauma, we are asked to reflect on the quiet ways that history haunts from generation to generation.

F

49

The Influencer, 2019, Charcoal and acrylic paint on wood panel, 46 x 36 x 2 in.

F

ELLEREE FLETCHER CURRENT OCCUPATION Gallery Marketing Manager EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

50

My work is an examination of becoming a woman and navigating sexuality in our current era. Fascinated by our obsession with self-representation, I use photographs from social media as references for my drawings. By using a blind contour technique, the drawings become fluid and distorted. The disfigured result explores self-portraiture and narcissism in our society, and questions if selfies are empowering, or if they reinforce objectification.

Madonna of the Banana: Endangered Orangutan, 2019, Acrylic on sanded board, 16 x 13 x 2 in.

PAUL FORD CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Hiring the Great Masters of Art to illustrate the dire circumstances of a possible 6th mass extinction has been challenging. They have been out of work for quite some time, and none have a computer or cell phone -- let alone a website. So, I have had to fake it, knowing in my heart that a true Renaissance man or woman would jump at the chance to advocate for endangered species of the human era!

F

51

Self-Portrait, 2019, Collected acrylic paint chips on canvas with paint markers, 20 x 16 in.

F

ARMANDO FRANCO CURRENT OCCUPATION Visual Artist; Community Organizer EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Murals

52

Since graduating from CSUMB I have partnered with multiple non-profit organizations & government agencies to implement art programs/projects. I've collaborated with the Monterey Rape Crisis Center, Monterey County Juvenile Hall, Community Solutions, C.A.R.A.S., El Teatro Campesino, & DeBug. This piece was created out of the paint chips collected from previous projects since 2011.

The original photo used as a reference for this self-portrait was taken by a college friend back in 2010.

Fear, 2020, Paper, pen, and wood, 96 x 120 in.

HUNTER FRANKS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA

This public documentation and collection of fears creates a welcoming, safe, interactive space for people to share their introspections and connect with others.

F

PRIMARY MEDIA Social Practice

53

Puppets Against the Patriarchy: Posi Pussy, 2019, Papier-mâché, acrylic paint, wire, cardboard, fabric, plastic gems, and christmas balls, Dimensions variable

G

ERICA GANGSEI CURRENT OCCUPATION Museum Director of Interpretive Media EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

54

I have forgone my individual studio practice, functioning instead as a creative catalyst, producing community projects for this spectacle-driven political moment. Puppets Against the Patriarchy was a protest art residency and gallery exhibition. I led intergenerational collaborators to create a Positivity Pussy parade puppet, a dozen origami cat masks, and a suite of punny political signs, which debuted at the 2019 Women’s March. The closing event, Sock Puppet Karaoke, embodied political resistance in creative play.

Adjusting My Place on the Spectrum, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 x 1.5 in.

THERESA GIAMMATTEI CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

We exist on several spectra of mental and physical health issues which are influenced by genes, society, and upbringing. We can adjust where we live on these spectra through acceptance and seeking help to move our position on each spectrum. Help (tools) can be community, therapies, medications, etc. My practice addresses current psychological and physical issues that are due to our modern lifestyles: stress, environment, overly structured work/school settings, and the proliferation of technology.

G

55

Night Swim, 2019, Oil on linen, 47 x 55 x 2 in.

G

STANLEY GOLDSTEIN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Teacher EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

56

Light sets the stage and the tone for the exploration of my relationship to the familiar world around me. These connections become like little dramas unfolding before me as I paint. I love how the world of tangible, separate things can be bound together in a fabric of light and whatever story I have to tell, I am most compelled by how the subject dissolves into the light and space.

Play "Hold On" by Alabama Shakes, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 240 x 240 x 9 in.

AMBAR GONZALEZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Unemployed EDUCATION BA, Psychology and Political Science PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I wanted to pay homage to 1) the drive to the Central Valley from The Bay, 2) a song that has gotten me through hard times by the Alabama Shakes. Hard times, means burning out from my past job and becoming newly unemployed. As a child driving from San Jose to Modesto I became acquainted and connected with my father, with my siblings, and now myself, as I drive to meet them in Modesto. The Altamont Pass is the gateway between these two homes. As I reflect, it is the transition between the past and future and dreams, both beautiful and painful that come in waves.

G

57

Lost Landscape #13, 2018, Torn end pages of found book, 13 x 9 x 0.25 in.

G

TRACY GRUBBS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Environmental Studies and Political Philosophy PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Drawing

58

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."

-- Ludwig Wittgenstein The Lost Landscape series presents an opening or tearing away from the ordered, but limited world of language, so that another horizon might be revealed. This organic landscape is the foundation upon which all life depends, including the life of the mind.

How to Catch Sunbeam Dust, 2018, Watercolor on paper, 27 x 35 x 2 in.

SARAH HABA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I paint in watercolor to represent fragility of thought and emotion. I strip my still life of its surroundings until only light, form, and shadow remain. The form hovers between materiality and immateriality. The shadow provides visual and emotional weight, darker and heavier than the form suggests.

H

Through paint, water, and patience, my still lifes become an external product of an internal process, shoved out into the world - my explanation of life.

59

Dirty Water, 2019, Silk, plastic packaging, acrylic, leather, aluminum, tulle, and acrylic medium on canvas , 40 x 30 in.

H

MAKIKO HARRIS CURRENT OCCUPATION Freelance Designer; Artist EDUCATION BA, Philosophy PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

60

I make mixed media paintings that incorporate textile and trash collage elements. My work considers vulnerability, beauty, feminism, and ecology. Using the incongruent materials of discarded plastic packaging and silk, Dirty Water explores concepts of value as well as the potential for artificiality in beauty. As a nod to environmental concerns, faint blue colors are combined with clogged layers of trash materials.

The Invisible Leaf Is Not a Transgression (It Is a Joy to Be Hidden but Disaster Not to Be Found), 2019, Mixed media on wood, 10 x 9 x 5 in.

JUSTYN HEGREBERG CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION High School PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Modest in scale, my work is intended to be engaged at a conversational distance, where it proposes questions about itself. Often the pieces begin with construction site detritus and castoff items. I join these everyday materials with conventional artist materials to create a kind of concrete poem that resonates without resolution, hinting at painting, sculpture, architecture, and nature.

H

61

Field of Gray, 2019, Chromogenic print, 30 x 30 x 1.5 in.

H

JARED HELTON CURRENT OCCUPATION Marketing Coordinator EDUCATION MA, Design Strategy PRIMARY MEDIA Design

62

Born and raised in Mobile, AL – my life was surrounded by camellias of various sizes and bright colors. Yet, through the continued rise of authoritarianism, corruption, greed and oppression – the flowers have begun to fade.

Wild Wave II, 2019, Reclaimed redwood, 42 x 30 x 5 in.

LUTZ HORNISCHER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BS, Business & Engineering PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

My sculptures and wall art are inspired by nature, life and the uniqueness of the reclaimed wood I use. I enjoy the specific challenge of transforming an old and rustic material, such as reclaimed redwood, into contemporary sculptures and fine art. I yearn to give the wood a new life and I hope my sculptures and wall art inspire people to find a new awareness, purpose and joy in their own life.

H

63

Untitled, 2018, Mixed media on paper, 22 x 30 in.

H

SARAH HOROWITZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Non-profit Administrator EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing

64

My work focuses on the body in space, in flux, and in a state of constant self-review. In the end, every portrait is a self-portrait, or rather, a part of the self presented on paper, canvas, wood, etc. Multiple selves in multiple states, occupy space in the work, just as they do in life.

constitution, 2019, Laser cut king size playing cards, 35 x 24 x 6 in.

CLINT IMBODEN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION MS, Psychology PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, Sculpture, Conceptual Arts

Braille is a language unknown to most sighted-people.

Here, the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights are translated into braille and cut into an old deck of king-size 5” x 7” playing cards. So many have lost sight of the core values America was founded on, instead blinded by hate and fear.

I

65

Two Minds, One Puncture, 2019, Chain, headphones, airpod silhouette laser cut into acrylic, white nylon cotton gloves, zip ties, window screen, and mp3 player, 72 x 14 x 4 in.

I

QUINTON ISAACS CURRENT OCCUPATION Museum Community Representative EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA New Genres

66

What happens to a commons that can’t be heard? Its aural quality, the noise that demands we concede our individuality, is slowly replaced by its sensory opposite: sound media that continually affirms political, aesthetic, and moral understandings of ourselves as individuals.

But the commons is still there to assert needs as noise.

In moments that force us to remove our earbuds, let us become uncomfortably aware of the weight of a technology designed to disappear.

s+oryprobl=m :: changed conditions, 2020, 2,020 handmade paper teacups, acrylic, and multiple interventions by artist, 22176 x 3 in.

C.K. ITAMURA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION Autodidact PRIMARY MEDIA Installation

Visual art is often understood to be static. Once installed, art is seen, exhibitions continue, exhibitions close, art is de-installed. What would happen if the sequence changed, such that, once installed, art is seen, the exhibition continues with the art evolving through multiple interventions by the artist throughout the exhibition, the exhibition closes, and the art in its altered state is deinstalled, all to remember: to what end are we racing and why?

I

67

49 New Zealand, 2019, Acrylic on canvas , 40 x 40 x 4 in.

J

FRANTZ JEAN-BAPTISTE CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

68

The painting with the number 49 is based on New Zealand's mass shooting. Being able to watch a horrific event live on Facebook felt surreal. What a dissociative moment when it comes to technology and the real world, where lives where lost right before my eyes. I didn't know how many individuals lost their lives due to the massacre but, I presumed the number was around 49. When the media said there were 51 casualties it hit me hard. I am a former art teacher at a Montessori school teaching from ages 3-7 years old. Knowing the victims were around my students age brought me to my knees.

Constellation #2, 2019, Acrylic ink and carbon on paper, 49 x 40 in.

LISA KAIROS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I am interested in landscapes that hold a duality between nature and utility - usually the remainders and margins of urban space or land that has been shaped by use, infrastructure, and sometimes restoration. I focus on areas where one type of space transitions to another: wilderness to cultivation, water to sky, field to ash. In these liminal spaces, where one thing becomes another, I find a metaphor for personal, societal, and environmental transformation.

K

69

Studio Ceiling: Giant Trade Center, 2017, Hand-woven tapestry with cotton warp and weft, 22 x 18 x 1 in.

K

LAURA KAMIAN MCDERMOTT CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Bookkeeper EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

70

This design came from an old studio of mine at the Giant Trade Center in San Pablo. Cheap space, but sketchy.

I started weaving the purple sprinkler line the night of the 2016 election, with the electoral map results on my computer next to me. Then, I wove the last inch as the Ghost Ship fire happened. Weaving tapestry, there are memories attached to the colors and textures with which you spend so much time.

Anthropocene 25, 2019, Cotton thread and corrugated cardboard , 15 x 18.5 x 1.5 in.

AMY KEELER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Registered Nurse EDUCATION MS, Nursing PRIMARY MEDIA Mixed Media

I am a mixed media artist whose work explores themes of waste, consumerism, mass production and the impact on the environment. My work focuses on materials typically considered trash once they've served their one-time use and considers the defective ways in which we have constructed daily life for the benefit of "advancement" and convenience.

K

71

All-One (Sky), 2018, Painted wood, 60 x 50 x 1.5 in.

K

KATHLEEN KING CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

72

Using discarded materials from construction sites and city streets, I challenge power structures that determine artistic and social value. All-One (Sky) is an assemblage of scrap wood that engages and connects in an anarchic mesh of interdependent parts. The piece is painted one color, referencing monochrome paintings of 20th century minimalism and its ideal of universality. Extending that historical conversation, the work both mirrors and counteracts current situations of urban existence, external and internal.

Leaf Rhapsody No. 1, 2019, Watercolor media, 34 x 26 in.

KAREN KRAMER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION JD, Law; Visual Arts PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Through the use of color, transparency, and layering, I create lyrical and magical representations of the natural world, from humble leaves to mountainsides.

K

I am especially drawn to how nature is at once infinitely complex and yet harmonious. My paintings seek to convey this intriguing paradox.

73

Tell Me, Are You Lonely Tonight?, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 x 1 in.

K

KATE KUAIMOKU CURRENT OCCUPATION Facility Manager EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

74

Each painting begins with draping the canvas over a model. After working the piece, I pin the dynamic folds and paint the canvas. Only after the piece has dried do I stretch the piece to reveal the final work. Ideas of painting landscapes of the body are meant to appear as both sensual and familiar - exploring space between landscape and form of body.

Blindsight, 2019, Multichannel projection with surround sound, Dimensions variable

ANNA LANDA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

Blindsight is the medical term for our ability to subconsciously recognize visual information. In an attempt to capture the attention of a public inundated with visual stimulation, I’ve developed a storytelling platform based on this phenomenon. It requires participants to close their eyes, taking the story in through sound and through light projected onto their closed eyelids. This reduced sensory experience relies on the mind's ability to craft complex narrative from simple cues and suggestions.

L

75

Helen Lundeberg, 2019, Acrylic on wood, 30 x 30 x 1.6 in.

L

ANA LAZARO CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION MA, International Marketing; Post-Graduate Certificate, Fashion Design PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Printmaking

76

Since childhood I have had a passion for portraiture. My work focuses on honoring her subjects and their story by becoming immersed in their uniqueness and individuality.

With a delicate yet vibrant color palette, my work is calm and peaceful.

My current work was inspired by my daughter. Seeing the lack of representation by women in most fields of work, I was determined to shine a light on inspirational women from across the world through my debut series, HER.

The Space in Between, 2019, Mixed media collage and acrylic encaustics on wood panel, 12 x 48 x 1 in.

SOPHIA LEE CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Design, Social Practice

My work is about creating the movement of organic forms and patterns inspired by nature. Material curated from refuse often drives the approach of the projects I pursue.

The man-made and natural world informs the themes, colors, and composition in the work itself. As an artist of two cultures, I am constantly marrying the duality in my work. The calligraphic gestures of traditional painting are my brush strokes, even when I’m using bean pods, collaging trash, painting murals or weaving plastic bags.

L

77

Cumulus: An Architecture of Shadows, 2019, Handcut black paper, 36 x 48 x 2.5 in.

L

BIANCA LEVAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Editor EDUCATION BS, Biology and English PRIMARY MEDIA Handcut Paper

78

My papercuttings originate from an internal debate or exploration about lived experiences. Since the body carries emotional experiences, both past and present, I can connect feelings to thoughts through extracting paper using a blade. What results is a papercut imbued with the imperfections that arise from a precise tool in imprecise hands. Cumulus: An Architecture of Shadows reflects on an accumulation of experiences - expressed, shared, or neither - that form one’s internal landscape.

Demolition, 2019, Watercolor, collage, and acrylic, 36 x 36 x 1.5 in.

MEGAN LEVINE CURRENT OCCUPATION Mathematics Instructor; Artist EDUCATION BS, Mathematics PRIMARY MEDIA Collage

I aim to create visual representations of emotional landscapes associated with people and events in my life. Demolition was inspired by the deconstruction of a long relationship and the anxiety around navigating that process. The layering and blending of color and shape, combining hard and soft edges, manifests the complexity of this dynamic. Common themes in my work are queer and non-traditional relationship structures, vulnerability, and the vastness of solitude.

L

79

Faded, 2019, Monotype print, 15 x 11 in.

L

JANICE LIN CURRENT OCCUPATION Printmaker EDUCATION BA, Marketing and International Business PRIMARY MEDIA Printmaking

80

My work is a direct reflection of my current & everlasting state of transition - transitions in light, tone, emotion, and state of being. Honoring that all things are impermanent and imperfect. I earned my undergraduate degree in business and pivoted from ten years of business & tech to printmaking. I initially applied for an MFA and was not accepted - which is why I didn't go down that path because I was directed toward another.

Hack-o-Lantern, 2018, Oil on canvas, 43 x 39 in.

SANDRA LIU CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

My paintings create darkly comic narratives around female fear and power in everyday experiences. I investigate the assumed misogyny in much of horror cinema, particularly slasher films, and re-evaluate horror’s feminist potential to break down taboos and depict women's ability to wield violence and malaise.

Hack-o-Lantern (2018) catches the viewer in a subtly intrusive scene of implied female misbehavior, the still out-of-context moment of a woman prepared to hurdle a pumpkin on Halloween.

L

81

Silhouette Unspooled, 2019, Chromogenic print, 4.5 x 6 in.

L

AYRTON LOPEZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA; MA, Education PRIMARY MEDIA Creative Writing

82

My work confronts relationships between the foreground and background, and uses this perceptual interplay as a framework on which to map multicultural experience.

This photographs aims to illuminate and interrogate the “Golden Hour” of cognitive recognition - the instance before awareness is cemented in reality and objective truth. While similar to “stream of consciousness,” this concept emphasizes a depth of potential over forward trajectory, and facilitates reflections on repressed memories, intergenerational conflict, and transhistorical injury.

The Surrealista, 2019, Mixed media collage, 24 x 18 in.

RAYOS MAGOS CURRENT OCCUPATION Expressive Arts Therapist EDUCATION MA, Counseling Psychology PRIMARY MEDIA Collage

The Surrealista mirrors the spirit & energetic vibrancy found in the streets of Brazil. The imagery evokes the wild, powerful & electric energy found in the street festival called Carnaval. Here, one communes with the childlike spirit, which is an absolute expression of the true self. This playful part of the self looks to personify the surrealistic, fantastic, costumed, creativity & spontaneity that exists in us all.

M

83

Door of Delusion, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 in.

M

TAYLOR MANCINI CURRENT OCCUPATION Teacher EDUCATION BA, Geography; MS, Education PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

84

Door of Delusion is a piece within The Tides series. The Tides pays homage to the powerful force of the ocean and the equally powerful force of working toward deepening my emotional authenticity as I examine what is most important to me. Door of Delusion explores breaking through the roadblocks in our lives that keep us from a sense of calm and contentment.

Under the Surface, 2016, X-ray prints and acrylic paint on canvas, 30 x 40 x 2 in.

STELA MANDEL CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Medical Illustrator EDUCATION MS, Medical and Scientific Illustration

The 2016 election revealed something dark and puzzling about our country. In my Flag series I use medical imaging (X-Rays and MRIs) as a metaphor for looking under the surface, only to find fractures of bony structures, vessels where blood can’t flow, and fault lines that crack under pressure.

M

PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Conceptual & Information Arts

85

Ojalá, 2019, Semi-transparent tape on panel, 60 x 60 x 1.5 in.

M

PABLO MANGA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Philosophy; JD, Law PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I make abstract compositions — layered monochromes, undulating horizons and destabilized grids — using semitransparent adhesive tape as a painting medium. Through geometric abstraction and the interaction of color, I explore phenomena of perception, joy and meditative experience.

My newest work both simplifies and complicates the color relationships involved, and foregrounds the materiality of the tape. Conceptually, a joyous pluralism is embedded in the play of chromatic difference and repetition that emerges in these new formations.

86

And Then They Were Two, diptych, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 35 x 70 x 1.5 in.

CHANDRIKA MARLA CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION AA, Fashion Design; BA, English PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I paint the soft curves of a woman’s shoulders and breasts in simple shapes and the bold colors of India.

My paintings explore female identity and are inspired by women and their relationships with others and themselves.

This diptych is an ode to my childhood memories. A fleeting swish of my aunt's purple sari, my grandmother's filigree coral ring and the yearnings of a 5-year-old to immediately grow up and own those treasures.

M

87

para ti, part two of a million, 2018, 35mm slides, slide projector, and fabric projection screen, Dimensions variable

M

LENA MARTINEZ-MILLER CURRENT OCCUPATION Bar Manager; Server EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Installation

88

A monologue of memories accompanies a 35mm slideshow. I deteriorated an image of an orb with ink, documenting the progressive changes and incoming darkness, vein by vein. My mom was losing her eyesight as I was growing up and her ongoing transformation shaped my childhood, a framework I never understood until recently. To be sightless, I thought as a child, would be to understand a secret, to perceive something special that quietly rustles between worlds.

Selfie, 2018, Acrylic on wood panel, 20 x 16 x 1.5 in.

MICHAEL MCCONNELL CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Small Business Owner EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I use animals in my work to be the voice of innocence and vulnerability. The series that this painting is from used social media terminology to show how technology has infiltrated nature. I even used images found on Instagram for reference and used an abstracted painting style so I could blur the line between the real and imagined. The other three paintings in this series were titled Double Tap, #MoraTrail, and Follow Me Back.

M

89

Infinite, 2017, Sumi ink on tea stained paper, thread, and bookbinding cloth, 26 x 26 in.

M

CHRISTINE MEURIS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Environmental Studies PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing, Painting, Textiles

90

The subject of my work is translating traditional homebased arts, executed in fabric and fiber, into works made on and of paper. I distill and reinterpret the foundational aspects of pattern, color, geometry and symmetry.

This work is my way of connecting ideas of art and craft, and of pointing out the false barrier erected between – a barrier often based on class and gender. I assemble my work from simple units such as dots and lines or actual paper shapes stitched together. I consider my works to be constructions, and the repetitious work and precision required to make them, to be the joy.

She Couldn't Believe Her Eyes, 2020, Acrylic on wood, 26.5 x 26.5 x 2 in.

MICHELLE MOHLER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

My abstract artwork is about celebrating the natural properties of paint: dripping lines, bold contrasting colors, varying brushstrokes, basic shapes. The process itself is organic and intuitive. When I incorporate this process into my portraits, which are more structured and planned, the apparent contrast creates a better representation of who that person is.

M

91

Test Pattern, 2019, Oil on paper, 16 x 12 in.

M

SHELLEY MONAHAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

92

My paintings combine realistic portraiture and abstraction as a means to delve into intimacy, but through a process that specifically seeks to avoid emotionality. Each figure exists in complex organic and geometric environments that threaten to overwhelm them. The ambiguous intrusions evoke presence and absence, privacy and exposure, and reality and memory, by conjuring similarities to a spectrum of textures - from clouds and smoke to crystalline structures and digital abstraction.

Healing, 2019, Watercolor, gouache, ink, and gold leaf on paper, 21 x 30 x 0.75 in.

JENNIFER MUSKOPF CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Educator EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Sculpture, Social Practice

My paintings juxtapose the real with the imagined and place them in altered landscapes to present a world both playful and evocative. This painting is from a series of 10 panels that offer a detailed depiction of students from Harper High School in Chicago, Illinois as they move through their neighborhood and become aware of their power to tap into the presence of absolute love and use it to claim agency, heal, and become re-enchanted.

M

93

Lets Stay Connected / Israel-Palestine, 2017, Archival pigment print, 20 x 24 x 1 in.

N

BONNY NAHMIAS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Educator EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Interdisciplinary

94

Let's Stay Connected is a playful social experiment responding to the age of digital madness by using a tin can telephone device in places where communication has been broken by modernity, politics, and war to communicate in real time and space. Here it is stretched over a newly built fence between Jala Village in the West Bank, Palestine, and the Karizman Valley, an occupied territory by Israel.

Capriccio, 2019, Acrylic on wood panel, 48 x 48 x 1.75 in.

IRENE NELSON CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Art Education PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

An abstract painter, I create spontaneous instinctual compositions. There is no compulsion to create a meaningful narrative, no formula or conscious constraint to the process - other than working through the fear and exhilaration of the unknown.

N

Ultimately, my desire is for the paintings to have a hopeful and uplifting effect on the viewer, reflecting what I feel when standing alone in the light-filled space of my studio and mind.

95

Watercolor Plot 1, 2018, Mixed media textile with pieced fabric, acrylic paint, and thread, 33.5 x 24 in.

N

ASHLEY NICKELS CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Teacher EDUCATION BA, Spanish and History of Art; MA, Spanish PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

96

Watercolor Plot 1 bridges several categories, and just like myself, I combine traditional feminine elements with a rebellious spirit. The piece mixes traditional quilting techniques - soft binding, pieced fabric, and applique--with acrylic paint and free-form quilting. It highlights my original Watercolor Quilting technique, which involves using a liquid acrylic textile paint to create watercolor-like designs, which are then outlined using free-motion quilting in black thread, echoing the painted designs like pen on paper.

Stratum 3, 2019, Fabric, Awagami hosho paper, thread, and India ink, 23.75 x 20.5 x 1.25 in.

KRISTINA NOBLEMAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

My work is an investigation of surface through acts of unification and destruction. Fabric becomes a building material and a vehicle for inquiry, honoring the process of discovery and the power of transformation, not only of the materials, but of myself in the act of creating. The resulting works are meditations on ideas of vulnerability, creation and destruction, revelation and transformation.

N

97

Priscilla, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 17 x 11 x 0.25 in.

N

FRED NOCELLA CURRENT OCCUPATION Project Manager; Freelance Scenic Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

98

Do I know you? Have we met before? I can almost place you. Are you a person or an effigy? Are you a good likeness of a bad facsimile?

Prosopagnosia, or face blindness, is the condition of being unable to recognize the faces of people we have met before. This is a helpful model for the cognitive dilemma of ambiguous portraits with uncertain identity.

These paintings and experiments in portraiture leverage the discomfort we feel when we don’t quite know who or what we are looking at. The trial and error of capturing a certain expression or likeness is my method for probing this discomfort.

Primordial Water, 2019, Acrylic on raw cotton canvas, 30 x 24 x 1.5 in.

EILEEN NOONAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Psychology; MA, Counseling Psychology PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I create playful and emotionally evocative abstract paintings informed by my sensitivity to the imperceivable. I ride pure, raw, sometimes demanding, sometimes elusive, fluid energy. Every blank canvas is an opportunity to dissolve into the oneness, connect and bring back what wants to be felt, expressed, ultimately SEEN. My work connects intimately with the world just outside of our ordinary sensory perception.

N

99

Light Wings, 2019, Acrylic plastic materials, 17 x 20 x 9 in.

O

LOLLIE ORTIZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Advertising Design and Film PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

100

A long career in professional advertising design and marketing stirred my creative imagination in many rewarding ways. This journey also offered me the opportunity to learn and team up with some amazing fellow designers from both the corporate and entertainment industries. As I approached my senior years, a new artistic direction began to emerge in sculptural design which is focused on a collective direction in acrylic plastic fine art, recycled works and "pop art" expressions.

Atlas of Similarities, 2019, Sewing patterns, photocopies, pastel, India ink, Yupo paper, Stonehenge paper, acrylic ink, and monotype print, 84 x 96 x 1.5 in.

KATHRYN PAGE CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist

The Atlas of Similarities, a 42-panel mixed media series, evolved from an investigation on the impact of materials and processes on form, into a meditation on EDUCATION the relationship of individual identity to universal human Post-Baccalaureate Certificate; experience - the dynamic between that which is unique BA, Art History and that which is shared.

PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

P

101

Reflection, Refraction, Diffraction (or How Come I Still Think You Are There?), 2019, Mirror, glass, and metal frame, 25 x 33.25 x 33.5 in.

P

HELIA POUYANFAR CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Volunteer EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Installation, Sculpture

102

Reection, Refraction, Diffraction (or How Come I Still Think You Are There?) is concerned with the juxtaposition of objects and memory. It explores the evocations of feelings and memory through engaging with rigid objects, the poetry of loss that is suggested by looking at one's ambiguous reflection in the piece, and the added context of a historically-charged textured glass. The piece asks the audience to re-contextualize the past and explore our liminal and diasporic existence.

Summer, Yellow, Green, Blues, 2019, Ceramic, spray paint, 33 x 33 x 16 in.

TRACY REN This piece, and my work in general, was made in an CURRENT OCCUPATION Teacher; Artist Assistant; Barista attempt to draw parallels between the human body and object bodies, to tell stories of the self through what EDUCATION surrounds us. It is a site-sensitive meditation on the summer BFA, Art of 2019.

PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture, Ceramics

R

103

This is Me/This is Me #4, 2020, Chromogenic print, 16 x 20 x 1.5 in.

R

MARITZA RUIZ-KIM CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Teacher EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA New Genres

104

This is a digital mashup of prose over one of my paintings.

I think a lot about social structures and the internal emotional landscapes of the people that make up those structures. Whether through writing, painting, works on paper, or any number of digital re-workings, I make art as a way to disentangle how people relate with each other.

This piece is from my series It's Personal.

Leaves, 2019, Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 x 2 in.

LEYLA RZAYEVA CURRENT OCCUPATION Teaching Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I am an artist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through abstraction, I create new cultural associations and dialogue around borders, access and transmission of history. My cultural home in Baku, Azerbaijan, is an intersection of empires, histories, and ideas. I examine iconography of West Asia from 8th and 9th centuries - making connections which range from personal to geo-political, telling stories of erasure, displacement, conflict, commerce, and transformation.

R

105

Amor del bueno/malo, 2019, Color lithograph on paper, 36 x 24 in.

S

DELIA SALOMON CURRENT OCCUPATION Printmaker; Server EDUCATION BFA, Biology PRIMARY MEDIA Printmaking

106

Through dynamic compositions and multiple perspectives, I illustrate alternate worlds inspired by my desire to find spaces for healing myself and my relationships. I work with both monoprints and lithographs to create dynamic multi-layered scenes that feature text, mirrors, reflective images, and faint impressions from the previous prints.

Through incorporating text from both literature and personal experiences, I explore my identity in the context of shame, anger, grief and love.

Rapid Express #7759 (Chikuma River), 2018, Pigment print, 12 x 36 x 1 in.

ARI SALOMON CURRENT OCCUPATION Web Designer EDUCATION BA, Art History PRIMARY MEDIA Photography

This image is part of a series of linear panoramas taken with an iPhone from moving trains and other vehicles.

They visualize a unique type of spatial and time-based distortion.

S

I am interested in the way photographs abstract space and time; how they can capture cycles of construction and deconstruction, and evidence of people living or just passing through. The viewer pieces together a puzzle of how the camera chooses to smoothly blend together disparate elements. I love the poetic relationship presented by focusing on the grand qualities of the everyday experience of urban landscape.

107

Undisclosed, 2020, Gouache on wood panel, 12 x 12 x 1 in.

S

JAMIE SANDOVAL CURRENT OCCUPATION Accounting Assistant EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Printmaking

108

I am a multidisciplinary artist that draws inspiration from experiential happenings. I create organic shapes met with hard edges created by free drawing via a method I refer to as an, ‘emotional Richter Scale.’ When recounting an event the raw emotion decides whether the line will have a peak or a valley. Once there is a pattern of emotional sediment in place, careful selections of interactions of color are chosen.

Kabuki Actor, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 x 0.5 in.

ANNE SASAKI CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art; MSW PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Exploration of gender, ethnicity and a sense of place in culture is a current theme of mine. This particular painting, is part of a trio looking at the creative confusion of having a transgender parent. As culture evolves, our ability to express our experience evolves. So, we continue to be able to express the previously unspoken.

S

109

Nature Recollected 5, 2020, Textile, 30 x 20 x 4 in.

S

ANASTASIA SCHIPANI CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Bartender EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Textiles

Nature Recollected In this time of fast fashion adding to our environmental devastation, I am hand sewing tapestries that are inspired by couture and the paradise of nature that dazzles me when I witness it.

This collection of tapestries is made predominantly from reclaimed vintage textiles. They are narrative landscapes that explore this earth which I see as the garden of eden we inherited alongside the battle that exists to recognize and honor it.

110

Is this the beginning? / Is this the end?, 2019, Organic chicken eggs, 24K gold leaf, spackle, glass, 4 x 18 x 9 in.

JESS SCHWARTZ CURRENT OCCUPATION Program Manager; Artist EDUCATION BA, Growth and Structure of Cities PRIMARY MEDIA Conceptual & Information Arts

This work explores questions of brokenness. What value, if any, does something broken hold? Does it matter how something is broken? How do we reconcile the weakness and strength experienced in a broken state? In this work, eggs symbolize fragility and fertility while applications of 24K gold multiply their preciousness. One dozen intact eggs explores the romanticization of wholeness, perfection, and completeness, while one dozen cracked eggs explores the discomfort provoked by their shattered state.

S

111

Ancient Genus, 2019, Acrylic paint on unstretched canvas, 60 x 96 in.

S

KATIE SEIBERT CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Art History PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

112

It’s about taking up space. As a non-binary, queer person, it’s an act of defiance and constant source of anxiety. I feel the ubiquitous fear of being too much even submitting this. It’s about strength and belonging, too. Magnolias, while atypical of my usual abstractions of lovers’ selfies, represent the ancient strain of the in-between. The flower is fragile and delicate. The tree is sturdy and massive. It is beautiful and overwhelming. Just like us.

All Work, No Play (April), 2019, Etching, Chine-collĂŠ and schedule book on BFK paper, 15 x 10 x 1 in.

LILLIAN SHANAHAN CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Receptionist EDUCATION BA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Printmaking

I often try to present ideas in formats that make complicated subjects more accessible and inject a sense of humor or irony when I can. This piece is a selection from a twelve-part series; one etching for each month in the year. By mounting the etchings on used pages of my schedule book and by using children as my motifs, I aim to convey the strain of modern obligations within a gig economy.

S

113

1st Strike, 2018, Wood, paint, spackle, armature wire, plastic tubing, 53 x 50 x 8 in.

S

JAMES SHEFIK CURRENT OCCUPATION Scenic Painter EDUCATION GED PRIMARY MEDIA Sculpture

1st Strike is part of a faux vintage neon sign series that presents an alternate timeline to post WWII American society. One led by an incurious, xenophobic and vengeful President, as opposed to the alliance builders that brought us the Marshall Plan, Nato, United Nations, sparking the largest expansion of the middle class.

The pieces are built new, from wood, painted, then aged to reflect 50-80 years of decay.

114

Audible Frequency, 2018, Screenprint, monotype, drawing and transfer, 28 x 34 x 1 in.

DEBORAH SIBONY CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BA, Foreign Affairs PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing, Photography, Printmaking

The relationship between architecture and nature continues to inform my work. Landscapes are in flux and appear as quickly as they disappear. These desolate and moody locations awaken connections to history and memory. They represent beauty, pain, and the complex ways that time passes - visual metaphors for the human condition - revealing what changes and what gets left behind. Reflections on how human activity affects our environment, how we change it, and how place can change us.

S

115

Octagram of Creation, 2019, Mixed media and resin on panel, 48 x 48 x 2.5 in.

S

PIERO SPADARO CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Gallery Owner EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

116

Utilizing assorted materials such as glitter, films, ground pigment encased in resin I create dimensional, layered paintings. Using single or multiple triangle shapes, I examine the iconic language of a triangle, embracing its appearance throughout cultures and times, and its ability to shift meanings. In response to the current climate, where difference is scrutinized and partitions are encouraged, my painting practice became about communication and our innate affinity for the shiny object.

Fronteras en el Tiempo, 2019, Acrylics on unstretched canvas, 54 x 72 in.

FRANCESCO STUMPO CURRENT OCCUPATION Designer EDUCATION BA, Architecture PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Fronteras en el Tiempo translates to “frontiers throughout time." It’s a phrase I keep coming back to, all while thinking of how the exercise of mapping borders has changed over time, double consciousness, and the fact that I'm not from here, but neither are you. Between the lines of the black and white contrast, the unstretched and raw canvas proposes a ​conversation, a ​retrospective look​, and a moment for introspective reflection - as it invites passersby to think of the notions of migration and emigration, identity and what it means to live in a constant search for belonging and home.

S

117

Will You Still be There for me, Once I'm Yours to Obtain?, 2019, Acrylic, bronze, gold, silver leaf on birch wood, 24 x 24 x 1 in.

S

118

BRITTNEY SUNDQUIST CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Bartender; Event Coordinator

In a time and culture where women's authority over their bodies and sexuality is continually threatened, as well as discredited, this body of work serves as a retort and retaliation. The work blends feminist, erotic, and queer EDUCATION overtones with the intent to represent the women within BA, History of Art her community. It hopes to enliven the independence that female identifying individuals hold over their desires, PRIMARY MEDIA Conceptual & Information Arts, whether they be overt or shrouded in a silent strength.

Social Practice

Nylon Knee Highs 156X, 2018, Original scanning electron micrograph, hand embroidery, 18.125 x 21.125 x 0.875 in.

RUTH TABANCAY CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles

Because I majored in bacteriology in college, it’s no surprise that themes in my art work tend towards microscopy and scale. Using the scanning electron microscope, I’ve photographed dozens of commercial textiles. Nylon Knee Highs 156X is a micrograph of drug store stockings at 156 times actual size. To leave the mark of my hand on this image created with manufacturing and technology, I hand stitched selected areas.

T

119

The Disruption, 2019, African textiles, SÄ moan Tapa cloth, shells, fabric marker, 46 x 35 x 0.5 in.

T

AFATASI THE ARTIST CURRENT OCCUPATION Educator; Artist EDUCATION BA, Liberal Arts and Creative Arts PRIMARY MEDIA Interdisciplinary, Indigenous Polynesian & Black Contemporary Cultural Arts

120

The Disruption depicts how government agencies, (like the police) seek to cause disruption. The bird in the central panel represents the disruptor; the fish, the disrupted.

The disruption affects the fish differently; one fish is taken away, a second witnesses disruption, and cannot stop it.

The third knows disruption happens, but turns a blind eye.

The same disruption occurs around the world, evidenced in the background panels; the birds symbolizing disruption in other cities.

Untitled (Vertical Line Painting 71), 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16 x 1.5 in.

JEFFREY THOMPSON CURRENT OCCUPATION Painter; Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

I work in the areas of painting, drawing, and collage.

My work is focused on simple design aesthetics, and the principles of materials, such as color and form. I studied printmaking at CSU East Bay and SFAI. After school, I found work as a lithographer in the printers union. In 1990, I began working in digital graphics as a studio artist, graphic designer, and art director. I later taught design at the Academy of Art.

T

121

May, 2019, Fabric, sweat crystals, strava maps, embroidery floss, 30 x 30 x 1 in.

T

MARGARET TIMBRELL CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BS, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Textiles, Conceptual & Information Arts, Conceptual Needlework

122

Thirteen years ago, I was biking to work when a truck made an illegal turn, crossing my chest, breaking all my ribs which punctured my lungs. I should have died, but I didn’t.

In 2019, I ran 1,000 miles to create the Running Stitches series - a study in the relationship between my step, my stitch, and my breath. I ran, then stitched my routes into monthly composite maps on fabric soaked in my own sweat.

Longing for a Place, 2019, Oil on canvas, 40 x 40 x 1.5 in.

ANGÉLICA TURNER CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

Añorado lugar I (Longing for a place I) is part of a body of work based in the Chilean Patagonia forests and the emotional meanings these places have for the artist, like the nostalgia of a familiar and balanced place and a refuge of the rest of the world. This painting is composed of figurative elements, abstract brushstrokes, and a palette that, all together, seeks to transmit the different phases of the woods, its atmosphere, vitality and ephemerality.

T

123

Where will we meet, 2019, Xerox prints, acrylic on newspaper, film photograph digital print, drawing on paper, drawing on vellum, drawing on wood board, 120 x 84 in.

V

RAPHAEL VILLET CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist; Publisher; Art Installer; Commercial Photographer EDUCATION BA, Sociology PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing, Installation, Painting, Photography

124

This installation is a statement of inquiry. It brings shape to my longing, frustration, and curiosity towards my ancestors. It maps out the sense of void and unknowing that persists as I begin to explore what it is I have inherited from them. I mourn this void of unknowing and I'm curious about the power my ancestors held, the power they gave me, and what kind of power they want for me in this lifetime.

Nabra, 2018, Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 x 3 in.

MELISSA WANG CURRENT OCCUPATION Visual Artist EDUCATION MA, English PRIMARY MEDIA Painting

My abstract paintings explore nature, displacement and human vulnerability. My ancestors’ journeys across water and their experiences in unfamiliar lands inspire me. I spontaneously layer water and paint, reflecting literal and figurative states of change. Bright, biomorphic shapes signify vulnerable bodies (what’s at stake). My works meditate on the relationship between humans and seemingly uncontrollable events - and one’s agency in navigating a dangerous world.

W

125

Tetrad (concrete), 2019, Concrete and enamel paint, 24 x 24 x 1 in.

W

126

PETER WARREN CURRENT OCCUPATION Designer / Developer

I create tactile work exploring memory, symbols, icons - and how these modes construct one’s identity.

In short, how did the object come to exist? And what EDUCATION transformation did I, the artist, undergo by creating it?

BFA, Printmaking Neither abstract nor representational, my pieces are literal objects with their own patinas, transformations and “life PRIMARY MEDIA Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture experiences” that mimic our own.

Untitled, 2014, Photograph on rag paper, 24 x 18 x 1 in.

CHANCE GARRICK WILLIAMS CURRENT OCCUPATION Multidisciplinary Artist EDUCATION I am all for it PRIMARY MEDIA Interdisciplinary

My work converges at the intersection of body, sex, landscape, politics, and history. While continuing education continues to be an important part of my process as an artist, the idea and ideal of a Master of Fine Arts runs contrary to how much of my work is informed by mind-altering substances. Radical Transformation was suppressed under the structure of formal discourse and institutional sycophancy. Perhaps the attempt itself was the radical transformation.

W

127

This moment made me happy, 2018, Chromogenic print, 18 x 24 x 2 in.

W

BRET WOODARD CURRENT OCCUPATION Photographer EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Photography, Sculpture

128

This moment made me happy. That stance, nothing better.

Hope he could see what I saw.

A photographic exploration of Aliso & Wood Canyons Wilderness Park, 2019, Inkjet prints, text paper, cardstock, archival adhesive, 2.6 x 4 in.

NINA EVE ZEININGER CURRENT OCCUPATION Non-profit Program Volunteer Manager EDUCATION Bookbinding Certificate; AA Candidate Library Information Technology; BFA, Art

I work primarily in a book or zine format. I find the bookish format is accessible to people of all backgrounds and ages. Working in small format, my work can be priced low, which allows for more people to have my artwork. This project was made after a hike and the binding style is circular - referencing the round trip that hikes usually are.

Z

PRIMARY MEDIA Artist Books and Zines

129

Nest, 2019, Ink on paper, 26 x 34 x 0.75 in.

Z

ELIZABETH ZUNINO CURRENT OCCUPATION Artist EDUCATION BFA, Art PRIMARY MEDIA Drawing

130

I use the natural world, a blatant demonstrator of life and death, as a perpetual cycle, to define decay not as the grotesque disintegration of a prior life, but a transition into another state of being stemming from old fur and feathered ends. Life spawns from decay at the cost of life itself. Remnants of identifiable attributes slowly dissipate under new growth, negating any permanence of self.

131

ABOUT ROOT DIVISION

Root Division is a visual arts non-profit in San Francisco that connects creativity and community through a dynamic ecosystem of arts education, exhibitions, and studios. Root Division’s mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts. The organization is a launching pad for artists, a stepping-stone for educators and students, and a bridge for the general public to become involved in the arts.

Root Division is supported in part by a plethora of individual donors and by grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission: Community Investments, Kimball Foundation, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Violet World Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and Bill Graham Memorial Fund.

Catalogue Design: Michael Nguyen and Phi Tran 132

1131 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 415.863.7668 / rootdivision.org

133

DONATE

Root Division is a visual arts non-profit, and we are grateful for your charitable support of our programming: rootdivision.org/giving

SHOP ART

Brighten up your home and support Root Division artists while you’re at it! https://root-division.square.site

BUY IN PRINT

Prefer to have a printed copy of this publication?

Order from our store to have it shipped to you. https://root-division.square.site/product/ mfa-never-catalogue-2020/891?cs=true

135

136

137

rootdivision.org 138